Rating: General
Spoilers: None
Summary: Entry for Henneth Annun list Memorial Day challenge.

Note: This is Elrond talking to a young Aragorn

What is war?

War is a bad thing. It begins when two factions disagree and cannot find a compromise. So they fight. Over land, beliefs, jewels.

Yet war can be a good thing. Peoples ally with each other for a common cause; invent new technology. But the price for this is too high to pay.

I know what war is for I have seen it. It is bloody, it is vicious. Everybody will lose someone they know, someone they love. And for all my years I am powerless to stop it.

It is hard to understand death on such a big scale. So many die that they become faceless names to all but those that know them.

I grieve for all the deaths I have seen. The seasoned soldier, who kills without a thought; the young man with his first taste of blood; the civilian who waits for news of her father, brother, husband, son.

A war does not have to be big for it to be a tragedy; for people to die. There is civil war, when neighbour fights neighbour; small battles, where the heroes are unsung; the wars that encompass the whole of Middle-earth, when no-one is safe.

I have seen the great wars of this world - the War of Wrath and the War of the Last Alliance. And soon, too soon, there will be another. I do not know what its name will be, but I know you will fight in it.

You may even die in it.

For you to live you must know how to fight and what you are fighting for. You must know what will happen if you win and what will happen if you lose. You will need to understand not only why you are fighting but why your enemy is fighting. For only then will you be able to beat him, to stop the battles and the death.

You must understand war. But how can I teach you when I still do not
understand it myself?

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Fandom: Tolkien | Type: Character: Eldarion, Length: Vignette, Type: Gen, Written for: Henneth Annun List Challenge | Link

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